The full seasonal event can be read here! Below are the main seasonal items for quick reference:
1. A thread reacting to the season's weather in some ways.
2. A thread in the part of the city your character doesn't live in!
3. A thread relating to your vocation.
Of The Season
Quote
"Tell Dr. Nate that Gale sent you, and he still owes me for the mushrooms. Except that it takes you a while to reach the clinic, and by the time you do your fever is spiking, and so instead of the requisite message you instead tell the poor soul who greets you that 'A gale'a m'shrooms sent me cus'a my hands.'" - Zephyr in Oh help me, please doctor, I'm damaged
The Neon Alleys had been exciting recently. As someone who had lived there all his life, Adam often found himself bored by the nooks and crannies, loud bars and bright signs; he looked out over the streets and saw home, but not the home he wanted to see. Beyond the shiny performance, if one looked close enough, it was easy to see signs of the Plates above: cracked walls, huddled figures at the corners of dark alleys, merchants desperate to sell their wares to tourists so they could afford dinner.
He was struggling to feed himself, without his show or much interesting happening right now. The lockdown had put everyone into a lull, nobles too focused on bickering and those in the Drench too focused on the lack of trade coming into the city to object too much to the increasing Enforcer cruelty. Everything was awful and nothing was happening about it. If he thought about it too much, he became depressed, so he smoked and drank a lot.
Doing just that, leaned against a signpole and drinking a bottle of booze he couldn't really afford, he watched people go by. Anyone not from the area immediately stood out in the crowd of busy Drenchers trying to get on with their day and it wasn't long before he spotted someone new. With a confident smirk, Adam lifted himself away from the pole with one leg and reached out to stop the man. "Hey. You look new around here. D'ya know where you're going?"
The city underneath the city has been a curious thought for a while now. Cian not gone down there before, as he had deemed it safer to stay up on the plates until he has learned more about the city as a whole. However, the motel owner had approached him about some letters they wanted to have delivered to someone living down there. While it had sounded like the same risky business that had gotten him stuck here in the first place, it would buy him some more time to keep the room.
His first plan had been to go straight for the address, leave the letters, get back up. Praying it was nothing dangerous. The fear of the package he had delivered to the city days before the lockdown happened had had something to do with the unrest still hung over him. 'You need to stop being paranoid about that. Move on.' Another thing that weights him down is not calling his family. It was a returning subject in his mind. He really should call them and explain where he was, and he keeps pushing it ahead of him.
While his mind is spinning around on too many thoughts, Cian finds himself just wandering the lit streets a bit aimlessly. Glancing at market stalls and looking through shop windows. He is so inside his own mind that he does not notice the other man until he is stopped. Cian snaps his attention to the stranger and takes half a step back.
"Sure I do. I am going just down this street." He responds somewhat calmly and tries to keep a neutral mask on his face, though a small chill runs down his spine. He usually did not get anxious like this. However, he usually was at home. In familiar territory and also used to have the gang connections in his town. While this area reminds him more of home than the top of the Plates does, he can still feel that he might be treading dangerous waters.
CIAN
The reader of this text has standing permission for responsible powerplay and to use physical/magical force against this character. Instant killing and permanently maiming not included.
Adam recognised, in the step back and carefully schooled casual expression, that he may have some off more threatening than he had intended to. These days he was used to being well known on the streets as an affable weirdo, a reputation that tended to proceed him; he forgot sometimes that to those who did not know him, his height, black clothes and general rough-and-readiness might be offputting. Shaking his head and holding up his hands, he took a step back from the man himself.
"Sorry, sorry. Not trying to mug you or anything. Really. I actually meant it - you look new and people get lost down here a lot. Enforcers are on the fucking rampage right now and it's best t'know where you are so you can get outta their way." Hoping that this genuine explanation was enough to clear him of suspicion for now, Adam glanced behind him to the network of alleys and streets that few knew as well as he did. "If you got somewhere you're comin' for specifically, I can take you there. All I want is to know what you've seen up in the Plates - assuming you've been there, of course."
Cian studies the man while listening to the explanation. He seemingly relaxes a bit, but he is still listening for any sound of steps right behind him and his eyes darts to the sides for a split second. His mind speeds through a few plans and potential scenarios before he lets it settle on one. Trust and to not assume the worse. The things some of the Platers had muttered about the Drench may just be bad stories.
"Rampage is one way to call it... Things sure are on the tense side..." He mumbles and pulls out three envelopes from a pocket in his jacket. They are tied together and all three got the same address. Cian holds the letters close to himself as he turns the stack around to show said address to the man. "I need to get these to that address." He has no idea what kind of place it is. Someone's personal apartment, judging by the address. But he does not know if the place got any kind of bad reputation or not. Just his way to say Yes to a delivery job and think later.
He continues after a couple of seconds thinking. "Not sure how much I can tell you. Meaning, I do not know much. Things are tense up there. Getting bloody difficult to find any kind of job, everyone is holding onto their own money." There is a hint of bitterness to Cian's voice. If he did not get this delivery done and then found some other job within the very near future, he might just have to search for a new room to rent. Probably down under the Plates.
CIAN
The reader of this text has standing permission for responsible powerplay and to use physical/magical force against this character. Instant killing and permanently maiming not included.
"Tense side. Heh." Adam shrugged, thinking that was as good a way to put it as any other; it was unlikely someone from the Plates had seen the worst of it down here, where at night it certainly got more than tense.
The envelopes caught his attention and for a moment he wondered if this were some kind of cover up for a drug operation, but quick study of the shape of them made him think that was unlikely. Adam peered close at the address, taking longer than one would expect to read it as he put the letter together slowly, speaking the syllables to himself until he suddenly straightened up with a grin and a nod. "Oh yeah, I know where that is. There's a slow way and a fast way. How good're you at climbing?"
That ominous question aside, he nodded at the description of the Plates, which sounded about on point for what he'd expected to hear. "You ever cross paths with anyone important?"
He waits patiently. Holding the letters still in a tight grip while the man was inspecting the address, and then he hides them back in a pocket once he gets the reply. A brief flash of relief flashes over his face; he might not become completely lost after all. Unless he is led into a dead-end and stabbed...
"I'd say I am decent. Mostly used to ladders and scaffolds, though. And scaling the outside of some trains." He does not have time to add in a follow-up question whether the climbing is on the fast or slow way, when the stranger adds another question of his own.
Cian runs the options through his head a couple of seconds, until he decides he is not in a position yet to demand to know why the man wanted to know. Besides, there was already a deal. Information for being shown the way. "Only if the Bratena heir counts as someone important." A hint of a smirk tugs at his limps as he replies. Of course that would be someone important, but would it in this company?
CIAN
The reader of this text has standing permission for responsible powerplay and to use physical/magical force against this character. Instant killing and permanently maiming not included.
"Trains? Sounds like you've got a story there." Adam commented, pleased to hear that Cian was capable of climbing - it would make this easier. "Alright, come with me. If you go up, it's much easier to go across." Stepping into the tight alleyway behind them, he looked at the walls either side for a moment then with a nod, began to ascend, placing a heavy boot on a windowsill here, a sign there (had he ever damaged signs by doing this? Definitely. Did he stay around to hear the complaints? Never.). Within a minute, he was sat on the top of the building looking down, motioning for Cian to join him.
As for meeting Sunjata, all Adam could do was laugh and roll his eyes. "Not anymore. Arbiter Jr seems to have made a real mission outta talking to everyone he can. We've all seen him." There was a fondness in his voice, even though he did suspect the Arbiter-to-be's motives.
After waiting a few heartbeats, Cian follows into the alleyway. Please do not stab me... "Guess some of it could be stories..." He mumbles in reply and watches as Adam starts scaling the building, praying quietly for himself he would not slip on his own way up and make a fool out of himself.
Once Adam was up, Cian begins his climb. Although he is a bit slower, he does make his way all the way up without losing his grip. He also does not accidentally break any signs (that he knows of). With a quiet grunt, he crawls his way up over the edge and sits down on the roof next to Adam to take a breath. The laugh makes him him frown slightly.
"Huh, well you probably know more about him than I do. He seems to have a few opinions against this whole bloody lockdown, despite his father being on the announcement for it." The lockdown is something Cian is very unhappy about, even if he still blames himself for going to the city in the first place. Had the lockdown not happened, he would have been back home half a season ago or something.
CIAN
The reader of this text has standing permission for responsible powerplay and to use physical/magical force against this character. Instant killing and permanently maiming not included.
Adam was pleased to see Cian scale the wall without too much difficulty. It helped that so much of the Drench was built on top of itself, footholds made of old walls bursting from new and ancient supports for signs or balconies long gone still there, just waiting to be swung from. Had he taken nasty tumbles trusting these rusty relics? Absolutely, but that was half the fun.
"Well, he's having a rebellious phase. Dunno if it's gonna last, but he's not really fond of his ol' dad." Standing up with a jump, Adam turned to look over in the direction of the address Cian had given him - the route made of many rooves and alcoves, tops of walls, all knitted close enough together to be almost walkable, and certainly a lot less crowded than the streets below. "Isn't this better? Easiest way to get around the Drench and most of the Enforcers are too chickenshit to try it."
He began to walk, along the roof and casually stepping over a drop without so much as a glance downwards. "So come on then. Tell me a train story."
"Yeah. I gathered as much talking with him. He did not seem very fond of the way of his house in general." Cian gets to his feet and has a look around at the view. Something about it made him want to smile, but he manages to keep a neutral mask on his face. Then his head sets to quickly trying to decide what kind of story to tell Adam. A plain lawful one, or spill some other details? What would his company find more interesting...
"Used to help with some basic repairs on on them, back home. Checking some bolts here, switching out damaged parts there..." He makes a pause to stop and look down the drop Adam just walked over. Cian could probably just walk over it as well, but he is yet not brave enough or trusting his abilities to, and makes a small jump over the gap. "A lot of the cargo trains got convenient hatches in the roof. Easy for one to slip through when working and most people that might be around just pay you no mind. Just assuming you are just doing whatever work you are doing."
Cian leaves the implications hanging in the air for now and he focusing on following across the roofs. He was sure that telling about his more unlawful past to Adam would not come back and bite him. The last time he had done anything was a few years ago now and it had also been in another state. Nothing the enforcers in this city could get at him for. Though they probably could find their own reasons anyway.
CIAN
The reader of this text has standing permission for responsible powerplay and to use physical/magical force against this character. Instant killing and permanently maiming not included.
